It's been about a month since L.A. Clippers owner Donald Sterling's racist views about black people were broadcast to the world. Though to people that pay attention to the NBA, Sterling's views were not surprising at all, given his greasy, disgusting reputation and his discriminatory actions against women and minorities.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver dropped the hammer on Sterling, banning him from the NBA for life and publicly announcing his intentions to have Sterling removed from ownership. Many NBA owners publicly supported Silver's efforts, though one NBA owner was quick to bring up the old "slippery slope" argument.
That person is Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban.
Within a few days, Cuban backtracked and said he supported Silver. Fast-forward to this morning, where The Tennessean reports on some eye-popping quotes from the billionaire. Backtrack no more.
Mark Cuban was in Nashville for a business conference and took the stage as a key note speaker. What he said - in his words, going "full Mark Cuban" - was shocking and terrible.
On the topic of whether he will vote to oust Donald Sterling:
You'll find out. I know how I'm going to vote, but I'm not ready to comment on it.
That's pretty non-committal.
On some other topics:
On how to keep bigotry out of the NBA: You don't. There's no law against stupid.
On stupidity in general: I'm the one guy who says don't force the stupid people to be quiet — I want to know who the morons are.
On bigotry in general: I know I'm prejudiced and I know I'm bigoted in a lot of different ways. If I see a black kid in a hoodie on my side of the street, I'll move to the other side of the street. If I see a white guy with a shaved head and tattoos, I'll move back to the other side of the street. None of us have pure thoughts; we all live in glass houses.
Bold my emphasis in that last quote.
Yikes.
Mark Cuban is known to be an outspoken owner, and is extremely engaged in his team's operations. He is frequently on the sidelines as opposed to be in a luxury box. And he has been successful - the Mavs won the 2011 NBA Championship.
See, Mark Cuban thinks he's being smarter than everyone else here. To gain supposed standing on these issues, he preemptively deflects accusations of racism and bigotry and coming right out and admitting he is "prejudiced" and "bigoted" (those are actual words quoted by Cuban). As if doing so awards him bonus points for being "honest" and "real". Why does it seem that racists and bigots are always righteous about admitting their racism and bigotry? More on this below the cited tweets.
Noted black sports journalist Bomani Jones calls out Cuban on this bullshit today on Twitter with a large back and forth debate. Below are some of Jones' most thoughtful comments (at least in my opinion).
I particularly agree with this next comment from Jones.
Jones has posted a lot on this issue today, do a favor and read up on his whole take. Reading stories on Twitter can be hard due to the 140 character limit (so paragraphs take many tweets to complete), but it's worth it.
Mark Cuban responded asking Jones whether he ever was fearful of someone on the street, to which Jones said he has been robbed at gunpoint - in a person wearing a hoodie, no less. But that he still isn't afraid and says people shouldn't be.
Now, for the reason why I agree with Jones comment about Cuban "punking out". If Mark Cuban was just fearful about walking alone at night (which is pretty laughable itself, given that a billionaire of his stature could easily afford an army of bodyguards and protection if he is so paranoid), why did he qualify such a statement by saying first "a black kid in a hoodie". Why do they always talk about the black kid first? And then in a moment of supposed equality, Cuban drops the "white kid in tattoos", which is a stupid addition in many ways.
If someone is actually afraid, why don't they just say "yeah, I keep an eye out for anything that might be a bit off". Why does it always include "black kid in a hoodie". You can bet your ass that if a "white kid in tattoos" had that pack of Skittles and can of Arizona iced tea, George Zimmerman wouldn't have stalked and murdered him.
A personal reflection - I'm pretty short and thin for a male (5 feet, 6 inches; 130 lbs. at most). If I'm coming home by myself from a bar or wherever and it's late out, I do carefully look around. There's enough security videos on Philly Police's YouTube account showing muggings, robberies, etc. If anyone wanted to mess with me, I'd be open season because I'm so small. To me, it's common sense; according to Bomani Jones, I'm fearful for no reason. Fair enough.
But I'm not looking for a particular profile, I'm just keeping alert. In other words, it's not a race thing at all - I keep a watch out when I'm by myself no matter where I am.
My point is that one can be aware of their surroundings without qualifying it in racial terms, which almost always seems to be the case in these situations. And more so, why people think that admitting their personal prejudice and bigotry earns them a pat on the back for supposed "real talk".
No, actually you're just admitting that you're a bigoted moron.
2:04 PM PT: I think many of you are missing the point here.
I'm merely pointing how in many instances, prejudiced people try and take ownership of the discussion by saying "hey, I may be prejudiced, but at least I admit it. You gotta cut me some slack then".
All this does is give an excuse for the person to continue be prejudiced. Because he/she pre-emptively shot down any criticism of being prejudiced in the first place.
You wanna know the best way to get props? By *not* being prejudiced in the first place. Or by admitting it, acknowledging that it's wrong and making strides to erase one's prejudices.
Mark Cuban didn't say any of that. He essentially just said, "hey, I'm prejudiced, here's an example, that's real life, deal with it."
Now why do you think Mark Cuban is pre-emptively saying this stuff? Is it to put distance between him (and perhaps the other owners) and Donald Sterling? Sounds like it to me. "I might be a prejudiced person, but at least I'm not Donald Sterling. So please don't ever try to take my team away from me." I mean, ok, but you're still a racially prejudiced asshole.